Make GUI and CLI tools use the same datadir #27409

ryanofsky · 2023-04-03T16:21:47Z

This is based on #27302. The non-base commits are:

Currently if your choose a non-default datadir in the GUI intro screen, the datadir is ignored by CLI tools.

This PR makes GUI and CLI tools the same datadir setting by default. It is followup to bitcoin-core/gui#602 which made GUI and CLI tools use the same settings as long as they loaded the same datadir.

The reason GUI and CLI tools use inconsistent datadirs is that GUI stores the datadir path in a strDataDir field in .config/Bitcoin/Bitcoin-Qt.conf¹ which CLI tools ignore. This PR changes the GUI to instead store the datadir path at the default datadir location ~/.bitcoin² as a symlink that CLI tools will already follow, or as a text file if the filesystem does not support symlinks.

If upgrading from a previous version of the GUI and there is only a GUI datadir, the strDataDir setting will be automatically migrated to a symlink so CLI tools will start using it as well.

If upgrading and GUI and CLI tools are using different datadirs, the GUI will show a prompt allowing either of the datadirs to be loaded on startup, with an option to set one as the default going forward.

strDataDir value is stored in .config/Bitcoin/Bitcoin-Qt.conf on linux, in property list files on macos, and in registry keys on windows. ↩
The default datadir location is ~/.bitcoin on linux, ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin on macos, and %APPDATA%\Bitcoin on windows ↩

DrahtBot · 2023-04-03T16:21:50Z

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Conflicts

Reviewers, this pull request conflicts with the following ones:

#bitcoin-core/gui/870 ([DRAFT] Expose AssumeUTXO Load Snapshot Functionality To The GUI by D33r-Gee)
#33550 (Fix windows libc++ fs::path fstream compile errors by ryanofsky)
#31260 (scripted-diff: Type-safe settings retrieval by ryanofsky)

If you consider this pull request important, please also help to review the conflicting pull requests. Ideally, start with the one that should be merged first.

LLM Linter (✨ experimental)

Possible typos and grammar issues:

inccludeconf -> includeconf [spelling error in comment makes the identifier unclear]
fo -> of [typo in comment: "Newer version fo the GUI" should be "Newer versions of the GUI"]
datadirectory -> data directory [missing space in "datadirectory" in error/status message makes phrase harder to read]
that -> than [comparison error in comment: "different datadir path that the default..." should be "different datadir path than the default..."]

No other added lines contain typographic or grammatical errors that make the English incomprehensible.

^{drahtbot_id_5_m}

ryanofsky · 2023-04-03T16:22:49Z

This is a draft PR and not fully implemented. Just opening it to share progress since it's taking longer than I expected to implement correctly

pinheadmz · 2023-04-15T11:21:27Z

This PR probably closes #8106

luke-jr · 2023-06-22T22:21:24Z

Won't this change/break putting the bitcoin.conf in the GUI-selected datadir?

ryanofsky · 2023-06-22T22:36:38Z

Won't this change/break putting the bitcoin.conf in the GUI-selected datadir?

No, I definitely need to update this and it may contain bugs. But do you see something here that would cause that to happen?

luke-jr · 2023-06-22T23:02:04Z

No, I didn't get to the code yet - was just commenting from the description of this PR and #27302

pinheadmz · 2023-10-03T12:17:36Z

test/functional/feature_config_args.py

+        # Disable this test for windows currently because trying to override
+        # the default datadir through the environment does not seem to work.
+        if sys.platform == "win32":
+            return


Confirmed, doesn't work :-(
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/csidl#remarks

maflcko · 2024-06-28T09:16:19Z

@ryanofsky What is the status of this?

ryanofsky · 2024-06-28T14:34:50Z

re: #27409 (comment)

@ryanofsky What is the status of this?

It's a change I'd really like to get back to, but is not ready now. The last time I worked on it, which was months ago, I started writing a Qt test for it but there are so many permutations of configurations (presence/absense of different data directory locations) that I was struggling to write it. I would like to get back to this at some point and I do have work in progress, but I don't think I will have an update on it soon, given other things I'm working on.

Rebased 5855150 -> 5864569 (pr/1data.2 -> pr/1data.3, compare)

Currently bitcoin-wallet accepts a -datadir argument but ignores and config file in that directory. This changes it to load the config file for consistency with other cli tools, and in case it contains any significant settings. Also update various tests using the data directory to call ReadConfigFiles. Motivation for these changes is to prevent errors after the next commit makes it at assert error to get the datadir path without reading the configuration first.

It's always been possible for bitcoin default datadirs ($HOME/.bitcoin, $HOME/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin, %APPDATA%\Bitcoin) to point at an external locations using symlinks, but not all filesystems support symlinks, so add extra support for pointing at external locations using text file. This feature is used in the following commit to allow the bitcoin GUI to select a default datadir location that will also be treated as the default datadir for CLI tools. Currently when a custom data is set in the GUI, CLI tools ignore it by default.

Currently if a you choose a non-default datadir in the GUI intro screen, the datadir is ignored by CLI tools. This means `bitcoin-cli` and `bitcoin-wallet` will try to use the wrong datadir and show errors if they are called without a -datadir arguments, and `bitcoind` will appear to work but use a different datadir, not loading the same wallets and settings, and downloading blocks into the wrong place. There are also more subtle inconsistencies between GUI and CLI selection of datadirs such as bitcoin#27273 where GUI might ignore a datadir= line in a bitcoin.conf that CLI tools would apply. This PR gets rid of inconsistencies between GUI and CLI tools and makes them use the same datadir setting by default. It is followup to bitcoin-core/gui#602 which made GUI and CLI tools use the same `-dbcache`, `-par`, `-spendzeroconfchange`, `-signer`, `-upnp`, `-natpmp`, `-listen`, `-server`, `-prune`, `-proxy`, `-onion`, and `-lang` settings as long as they loaded the same datadir. The reason for GUI and CLI tools using inconsistent datadirs, is that GUI stores the datadir path in a `strDataDir` field in `.config/Bitcoin/Bitcoin-Qt.conf`[^1] which CLI tools ignore. This PR changes the GUI to instead store the datadir path at the default datadir location `~/.bitcoin`[^2] as a symlink that CLI tools will already follow, or as a text file if the filesystem does not support creating symlinks. If upgrading from a previous version of the GUI and there is only a GUI datadir, the `strDataDir` setting will be automatically migrated to a symlink so CLI tools will start using it as well. If CLI and GUI tools are currently using different default datadirs, the GUI will show a prompt allowing either of the datadirs to be loaded and optionally set as the common default going forward.

DrahtBot · 2025-10-22T10:16:49Z

🐙 This pull request conflicts with the target branch and needs rebase.

DrahtBot added the Needs rebase label Apr 3, 2023

ryanofsky force-pushed the pr/1data branch from 3c2b5ed to 5855150 Compare April 12, 2023 15:16

DrahtBot removed the Needs rebase label Apr 12, 2023

This was referenced Apr 13, 2023

Intro: Have user choose assumevalid bitcoin-core/gui#149

Closed

move-only: Extract common/args from util/system #27419

Merged

tests: Run both descriptor and legacy tests within a single test invocation #20892

Closed

DrahtBot mentioned this pull request Apr 19, 2023

refactor: Move chain constants to the util library #27491

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DrahtBot added the Needs rebase label Apr 21, 2023

ryanofsky mentioned this pull request May 22, 2023

Bitcoin ignores datadir and blocksdir parameter in .conf #27246

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1 task

ryanofsky mentioned this pull request Jun 2, 2023

init: Error if ignored bitcoin.conf file is found #27302

Merged

pinheadmz reviewed Oct 3, 2023

View reviewed changes

maflcko assigned ryanofsky Jan 2, 2024

ryanofsky mentioned this pull request Jul 10, 2024

utils: add support for bitcoin-wallet tool configuration file #30421

Open

ryanofsky added 3 commits October 10, 2025 15:52

ryanofsky force-pushed the pr/1data branch from 5855150 to 5864569 Compare October 15, 2025 00:41

DrahtBot removed the Needs rebase label Oct 15, 2025

This was referenced Oct 15, 2025

[DRAFT] Expose AssumeUTXO Load Snapshot Functionality To The GUI bitcoin-core/gui#870

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Fix windows libc++ fs::path fstream compile errors #33550

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scripted-diff: Type-safe settings retrieval #31260

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DrahtBot added the Needs rebase label Oct 22, 2025

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